#also this is the first time i've done one of these posts

[pensivespacepirate]

The first busted run i did with the Cryptid mod, i got the Happy House joker:

multiplies the mult to the power of 4! absurdly powerful for an uncommon joker! but only after scoring 114 hands. a normal Balatro run would give you 4 hands per round, meaning it will take up a joker slot and do nothing for around 38 to 57 rounds, or 13 to 19 antes. with the extra hands you get from Cryptid jokers and vouchers it was less, but still a lot of hands to play. You couldn't cheat with scaling jokers either, it doesn't work on the played hands count and you have to play the full 114 hands.

My friend was around when we started the run and we got it relatively early on (round 2). He was the one who suggested taking it! We're gonna build the House!

We must build the House. The House must be built.

It was smooth sailing, seeing the jokers and consumables Cryptid had to offer and upgrading the hands to absurd levels with the azure seals and neutron stars, until at Ante 21, at 108 bricks, i think i sold a load-bearing joker / or made it double-sided with another joker and covered up the useful side instead of the blank side, and made my score tank. The Boss Blind requirement was 1.94e51 and i was only scoring 1e22 per hand.

Not wanting to give up, rifled around the negative planet stack and found a Reboot code card underneath everything which means I've got 7 more hands. The House can be built!! The House must be built!!!!

the House has been built.

(i fucked up the math i didn't realise i could hit it with my second-to-last hand)

After giving the House to Blueprint we hit e1278.

"Turns out to save your run you just have to build a House!" - another friend in voice chat

But the Happiness was short lived. After a few more rounds I got hit with the crash screen. Because when you're playing the Cryptid mod you're not fighting against the bosses of the game, you're fighting the code and your hardware. Every time i tried to play my hand it'd crash. Frantically looking for a solution on the modded discord like trying to do emergency surgery on an old beloved animal. Found out it might have been the double-sided jokers fault, but selling them didn't solve the problem. didn't dare to sell Happy House in case that would get us out of the crash loop and land us into a future without the House. The House is integral to the run. The House makes or breaks the run. I will go down with my House.

Calculating the scoring hand seemed to cause the crashes, but I was against the Nostalgic Mark boss blind where you can't score hands containing pairs. at least there was a way to Tear Down the House with my Hands instead of just starting another run on the main menu. screaming crying throwing up with a sledgehammer etc.

(last screenshot of the House run)

The run was over after throwing out 7 pairs. The House is no more.

And, because it is an uncommon joker, it would show up fairly often. Every time I saw it it was like meeting a war buddy who stood by your side in battle only to end up with incurable amnesia. A husk of what it once was. I'd always pick it up but I could never build it back to 114 hands before my run was over. I don't play full Balatro runs that often but evidently this has done a number on my psyche so there's that. what was the post about?

Oh, uh, don't get too attached to a card in the number go up game...?

also it still haunts us.

thinking abt the inherent tragedy of being in timeloops in a setting (game, franchise, etc.) where half the value is getting attached and sharing experiences with ppl but bc of the timeloops they never remember the experiences you had and may in fact never meet you again because it hurts you too much to try and relate to them again

[pyrographic-memory]

Holy shit, great to see the internet imploding once again lmao (srsly I'm also pouring one out for the discord mods holy fuck. I joined that server when it was at 17k people and THAT was already too many people for me...)

So uh. I know my * post * talking about us seeing Vessel prepare for war didn't blow up quite as much as my tritanopia post (still fucking stoked about that actually sosjehshjwh), BUT I am happily back again with the military jargon breakdown!

I'm going to say now, everything I mention here is declassified, you can find it with a Google search. Please don't freak out on me lmao

The Morse code from the Pan and Echo audio files was summed up into eight lines of dialogue (for lack of a better word).

At first I thought it was a 9 Line, which is a call for medevac report, due to the SOS. But it is missing a ninth line, so I asked a friend of mine what they thought. And they said it looks like a weird mix of two report formats: BLUE 2 and GREEN 6.

BLUE 2 is SITREP, or situation report - rather self explanatory. Brief summary of threat activity, then you list off how ready your men and your vehicles/equipment are, and then you give a summary of The Gameplan.

GREEN 6 is EPW (enemy prisoner of war)/Captured Material Report. You've executed The Gameplan, and you've captured people and stuff. This one is a two-parter technically, because you list off who you've captured first and then what you've captured (this can include land and buildings, so like if you captured a hilltop or castle or smth), you state the unit that did the capturing, when the capture happened, and a brief summary of how you did it.

So now, we break the message down. The first two lines don't really align with any report, so we'll focus on 3 onward.

Line 1: "I've been waiting long for you"

Line 2: "Behold"

Line 3 (friendly locations as from a BLUE 2): WA and RL, which ended up being WRAL, which is the news channel for Raleigh, NC (NORTH CAROLINA BABY, LET'S GOOO). Their meteorologist made a * post * about 3/29 on Instagram.

Line 4 (DTG [Date Time Group] of capture, as from the second half of a GREEN 6): "Two days in the morning", two days from now it'll be 3/29, AND there's a partial solar eclipse that day (though it's very close to full), and where the eclipse will be most prominent over the Atlantic, it'll be at maximum around 10:47 AM UTC. So the DTG would be written as 291047MAR2025.

Line 5 (place of capture, as from a GREEN 6): "In Arcadia"

Line 6 (circumstances of capture, as from a GREEN 6): "Carpe" (Latin for "seize")

Line 7: "Broadcast interruption, nothing"

Line 8: SOS SOS SOS KN AS

Everyone knows the mayday call. But KN and AS are CW radio signs (telegraphing, Morse code, all that shit they used in both world wars). KN means "only the station named should respond", and AS means "wait". The broadcast was interrupted, but the broadcaster didn't hear anything from the interruption. They're still calling for help because the interruption means someone is listening in when they shouldn't be, so the broadcaster may be compromised, and they're asking for an answer from whoever they were broadcasting to before saying "wait" (maybe as in "don't send rescue immediately").

Now, let's look at something else rq. The metadata of the audio files.

Uploaded by: The Observer

Another report to mention: BLUE 1, SPOTREP. These are written up when scouts observe any known or suspected threat activity in the AO (area of operation).

And I want to amend rq, the emails from a few weeks ago with the respective wording: House Veridian "observe", and Feathered Host "seize".

This is a House Veridian SPOTREP of a Feathered Host SITREP/capture broadcast, probably done by our Observer doing what the green bois call channel hopping, and the Broadcaster not securing their comms line.

I really want to know who Vessel knows. Cuz while ts is available to the public, you gotta know someone who can tell you that these report documents even exist. The US Army has like a thousand reporting documents, something for everything. Every country does a lot of this stuff differently and has differing names for it, but I just find it really neat that it seems to be US-based (unless the UK military also operates this way 👀👀👀)

[egalitarian-tomboy]

"The body language was intentional." Body Language Difference Between Sonic & Amy vs. Sonic & Tails

Although the DC x Sonic the Hedgehog 4 part mini series is non canon to the mainline story (as far as we know at least...) in one of the previews we got for the first issue we get a moment where we see Sonic grab Tails and Amy for a retreat.

However the difference in how he grabs them is interesting enough to warrant a post of its own.

ABT (Adam Bryce Thomas, artist for the crossover) said the body language was intentional and later on went on to elaborate that Sonic is simply being more gentle with one than the other and that he's not interested in shipping theories nor does he have any personal stake in that realm of fandom. He just said that it'd be more in character for him to have a little tact.

First off: HARD AGREE!

Like don't get me wrong, I've been a Sonamy shipper since I was in Middle School when Sonic X was still on 4Kids TV and SA2 was on the Game Cube but I'm against shipping theories / fan shipping wars getting heated between fans. Like y'all lets calm down these are fictional characters.

Secondly: I'm making this post specifically to talk about the body language in terms of how Sonic personally interacts with Amy vs. Tails in different situations. Because they're both close to Sonic but their bonds differ to an extent. So this is really my excuse to talk about something I've wanted to for a while.

Whether you ship Sonamy platonically, romantically, or you just consider them to be friends. I hope you can at least appreciate the observations in this post. Because it also has some appreciation for Sonic & Tails brotherly relationship as well.

So let's start off with the above body language in question and focus strictly on the hands.

The lines in the panel signify the strength of the grip he has on Amy's hand vs. Tails' wrist. With Amy, Sonic is holding onto her hand gently yet with enough grip to get her attention and to draw her close. While his grip on Tails' wrist is more firm with more like a "Get over here!" level of urgency to it. They both convey the same intention yet Sonic's touch differs depending on the person. Which it should because you don't act the same way towards everyone regardless of who they are 100% of the time. Sonic's no different. Sonic has always been protective of Amy and Tails but with Amy he won't physically harm her or act aggressively with her unless it's for her safety (Like pushing her out of harms way or keeping her from running into danger). So his gentle hold of Amy's hand is a good example of that level of softness he treats her with even though he knows how she's able to handle herself. With his grip on Tails' wrist, it's done in a way that screams "Brothers" to me. The older brother pulling his little brother out of harms way and getting his attention when he's too focused on the wrong thing at the wrong time. He's not being as gentle with him because sometimes Tails requires a bit more force to get his attention when he's invested in what he's doing. But the intention is still the same: Getting him out of danger and taking him along with Amy out of danger.

Next we have this scene from the main series:

Now in this scene, as they're confronting Eggman, the body language between the three of them says a lot more about their feelings in the moment. Sonic is ready to fight and protect, Amy is slightly concerned for Sonic, and Tails is nervous but ready to fight by Sonic's side to stop Eggman. The difference between this scene in the previous scene however boils down to Tails' junction to Sonic in the situation. Instead of being brought out of a situation, Tails is preparing himself to work as a tag team with Sonic or provide backup in a fight. For a while now Tails has been wanting to prove he can be useful to Sonic and help him on his adventures. Which is one of the big motivations for him in the first Sonic Adventure game that rolls into SA2. Most recently in Sonic Frontiers he's expressed his desire to be a hero that Sonic can be proud of, that doesn't need to rely on his help 100% of the time anymore. Which Sonic encourages but reminds him that growing up is learning also that it's OK to rely on others even when you're capable of being a hero that helps everyone. One way that Sonic is letting Tails grow into his own hero is by letting him fight with him and on his own two feet (or in his case with his two tails). Now when you focus on Sonic's body language with Amy close by, he's taking more of a defensive stance with her. Again, even though he knows damn well that she's very capable of handling herself with that hammer of hers, he is still very protective of her. One of his arms is slightly in front of her and he's positioning himself for an attack but he's also capable of taking the full brunt of Eggman's attack if he has a weapon or robot shoot at them. Just because Amy is capable of defending herself that doesn't mean that Sonic will stand by and let her be attacked.

One more scene from the mainline series and then I wanna wrap up this post by talking about the inherent difference between Sonic's relationships with Tails and Amy.

After everything is said and done with the Phantom Rider arc, when they all prepare to head home, Sonic puts his hands around Tails and Amy as they smile and leave together. The thing I want to point out is, similar to the difference in where Sonic grabs them in the DC crossover first issue, Sonic's hand placement is tactful yet at the same time very indicative of his relationships with them. Albeit maybe even a little subconsciously. With Tails his arm is wrapped around his shoulder with his hand wrapped around his arm. Very big brother like and sweet, the clear difference in height is also more pronounced in this interaction. Overall if you were to look at them acting like this and Amy wasn't there it gives the air of two brothers who just got done on an adventure. But when you look at his hold on Amy, you can tell Sonic has a different kind of relationship with her compared to Tails. First off his arm is behind her back with his hand either firmly on her lower back or just close enough to be around her waist. Generally speaking it's traditional for a guy to escort a lady with a hand on her back or around her waist to keep her protected and close so she's safe until she gets where she's supposed to be. But it's worth pointing out that Sonic is becoming more comfortable with his physical interactions with those he's close with. He's a very private guy who doesn't do a lot of PDA with friends, especially with Amy when he knows that she's in love with him and he's "runned away" from her advancements in the past. But after everything is over and the battle has been won, he happily holds her close and walks with her back home. And look at her! She's so happy that he's safe and sound she leans her head against his with her eyes closed. Like she's enjoying the fact he's holding her so tenderly and protectively. If this shot was just him and Amy walking together like this, you would say his smile here was a comfortable yet nervous smile like we've seen in the past where she's given him a hug and he looks a little nervous yet happy.

There are many moments in the Sonic Franchise where we get glimpses into the personal relationships Sonic has with his friends and unfortunately there are a lot of people who think that body language doesn't matter when it comes to understanding a relationship. But body language plays such a huge part when it comes to SEEING how close characters are to each other and how they truly feel about each other. With Tails, Sonic's relationship is that of a brotherhood by bond rather than blood. Sonic's always been there for him and yet he respects and encourages his desire to become more independent as he grows up. He will always be there to help him when he needs help and he will always stand up for him but he won't stop him from becoming a hero himself to fight by his side on equal footing in his own way. Sonic calling him "Little Brother" and "Little Bro" openly and more frequently truly shows how he really considers Tails his family.

With Amy, there is a friendship with her but he doesn't view her in the same sibling way he sees Tails. She's straightforward in her love for him and has openly asked him in the past if he would marry her. She's confessed her love for him openly and maturely to him in the IDW series saying she loves him and she doesn't WANT to change him. He's offered her to come with him on his adventure at the time but she had to help out with the struggling resistance. For Sonic, shyly telling her it isn't ALL or NOTHING is HUGE. Because he wasn't against the idea of her being by his side or adventuring with him after she candidly said she loved him for him. After that there's been a lot more flirting from Sonic's end that can be read as just being playful like he is with others. But when you consider in the past he wasn't the type to flirt back or first AT ALL with Amy, there is an inherent romantic undertone to their interactions. But it shows...if ever so slowly (how ironic)...that Sonic is either becoming more comfortable / open to the idea of a public romantic relationship with her or he's becoming more honest with himself since he's always been interested in her but has always been too shy to confess.

If that was too long for you, TL;DR end summary: Sonic's relationship with Tails is a brotherhood, Sonic's relationship with Amy is a slow burn love story.

Hope you enjoyed reading that because I had fun writing it.

[kenzan-brainrot-mp4]

Hello! The twist ending of PYIH kind of shocked me. 'Twas really foolish of me for thinking that for the entirety of Kiryu's saga, Majima has just that twisted obsession with Kiryu, being a "Mad Dog" and all. I came across your PYIH analysis the other day and it really brought home what they were conveying with the ending.

I'm still having trouble wrapping my head around the premise of PYIH. Is the sole purpose of Majima's "filming/documentary(?)" is to rehearse telling it to Kiryu? Because if it had been, that would be even crazier.

Oh, and at this point, is it even reasonable right now to interpret their relationship as platonic or brotherly? What do you think?

YEAHHHHH imo I think yakuza kenzan yakuza 3 (rooftop scene) is where we first truly starting seeing a glimpse of a deeper dynamic between Majima and Kiryu that goes beyond the "weird twisted obsession" reading, and we see more examples of it later as the series goes on (gestures at yakuza 5 and IW) but moments like those were decently subtle/blink-and-you'll-miss-it (not to mention they lessen in frequency also probably in part to Majima's lessening screentime throughout the series), but pyih's ending really goes out of its way to ensure that you actually Know how deep and genuine Majima's feelings are, which I am both extremely appreciative of and Kinda Crazy about

I think the whole documentary thing is interesting. Given the fact that they went out of their way to get the equipment/crew/etc. for the "film version", I would say that the Majima's retelling of his story at the studio and at Kiryu's bedside serve different purposes, and that him telling the story on set was not specifically for Kiryu (what Majima plans to do with the "film version" I'm not completely sure, but I guess for now we can assume it's just a project Majima wanted to do while getting Majima Construction back off the ground?) I'd say the premise of pyih is both to retell Majima's story as he presents it to the "general audience" And Kiryu, hence why the game starts with one and ends with the other. It's the same story to everyone, for the mostpart, and the main difference between the two 'versions' is How he presents it (to the cameras/the players/main audience he puts on the fuckass pirate costume and the theatrics, to Kiryu he tells it to him straight, without the extra show stuff for the cameras. We can Assume the story he tells to each audience is practically identical, considering that the cutscene of him telling it to us in the beginning of the game and him telling it to KIryu at the end of the game use identical lines (cough cough in the Japanese audio), but his tone of voice between the two are notably very different)

Uhhhh shoot I don't know if any of that made sense 💀 Point is I think Majima telling the story of pyih is, in fact, meant for Everyone, it's just that Kiryu gets a sort of special, more authentically told version of it if you will (After all, Majima could've just shown Kiryu the film when it was finally done, but instead he went out of his way to tell it to him personally)

As for the question of "is kazumaji canon now", WOO boy. First of all I actually lowkey want to thank you for asking that question, I've been wanting to post about it for a while now but kept putting it off lol. I mulled over this exact question quite a bit during the week-or-so long time period that I was writing most of my analysis after finishing the game, and, despite the fact that I myself am very vocal about liking kazumaji in a romantic scenario/context, I would not personally call it canon, and I say it is still absolutely reasonable to interpret them as platonic.

While many of the aspects we see in their relationship (especially on Majima's end) such as obsession, devotion, etc. etc. are often associated with romantic interest (Especially in fandom spaces), I don't think they have to be considered specifically romantic. People who have read through my posts may remember a while back that I did an analysis of The Sun at 36.5 wondering if the song was written with the intent to represent Majima's feelings towards Kiryu (for the record this was incorrect and the meaning behind it goes past the scope of the game) and I was going pretty insane about it lol. That's because, had the song been written with that in mind, it would've meant with almost 100% certainly that they would be, in fact, canon, and that would've been Insane. However, this is not the case, and other than that theory I had there's nothing else in the games that would specifically state that either one has Explicitly Romantic feelings towards the other. Do they have a very deep and complex relationship, the likes of which they don't share with many other characters? Definitely. Is it explicitly romantic? I wouldn't say so

The main example I would like to bring up to argue against it would be minedai (*cough* my second favorite yakuza ship I fucking Love Mine Yoshitaka so much he's one of my favorites). I'll link this amazing post with all the examples but essentially, while minedai and kazumaji share many of the same themes in their relationship/dynamic (again, obsession, devotion, you get the drill (can you tell Majima and Mine are two of my favorite characters yet LOL)) the main difference between them is that, with minedai, it is basically outright said Multiple Times in Multiple Sources outside of even Yakuza 3 itself that Mine loved Daigo, with words used Specifically to convey strong romantic connotations, a choice rgg went out of their way to make every single time they wrote about them together. Kazumaji, on the other hand, does not use these kinds of words to describe each other, whether it be in words coming from Kiryu and Majima themselves, or official relationship charts, descriptions, etc.

Can feelings including romance be heavily implied without needing to be explicitly stated? Absolutely, but with the way rgg tends to Very Obviously and Explicitly state when characters Are romantically interested in each other, and also simply because there is still (imo) plenty of room to read kazumaji as Not romantic, I wouldn't say it's canon. And for the record, I wanna reiterate that this is coming from someone who is personally very enthusiastic about kazumaji as a ship, so I'm trying to be purely objective here, and that is my verdict (Also this is just a random aside, but I really don't agree with the people who are (unironically) labelling Kiryu and Majima's relationship as "queerbaiting". but that's a whole other discussion entirely)

Thank you for shooting an ask !!

[wandererxiv]

Now that I am home and have time, I'm going to type up my joys, responses, and theories about patch 7.2! Spoilers and etc. below the read more!

Most of this is comparisons to FFIX, which is a lot of reaching on my part. This post is image heavy, as well. Please listen to me talk about my favorite Final Fantasy.

So, I think we were all pretty much aware that somehow a real Sphene was going to show up. I thought it would be Ascians taking over her form, but hey "you were essentially dead but good morning" works, I guess.

I put this next to FFIX's Garnet as the real Princess Garnet dies at the age of six and in a twist of fate the playable character Garnet arrives by ship with her deceased mother after a storm. She looks exactly like the recently passed princess and is taken and raised as a replacement.

The fact we didn't get to give her a nickname was a lost chance. At this point in FFIX, when Garnet is escaping Alexandria, she takes an alias to keep her identity hidden. This is how she becomes "Dagger". I got excited for a moment thinking Sphene would take an alias similarly, but she didn't.

As another little nod to IX, the design on Sphene's jacket is reminiscent of Garnet's cloak.

Now more reaching from me: When they talk about the aetherytes being shut down due to the war, I think about how similarly the airship gates were locked in IX because of war and unrest. There's also the "railroad" between Lindblum and Alexandria. In IX, this is Gargant Roo, an underground passage between the two kingdoms where you travel by giant gargant (The first boss of the new dungeon!). Similarly, the gargant's fight in the dungeon is similar to the mechanics in IX.

In FFIX, gargant climbs upside down and along walls on a vine and you have to use levers to control the flow of sand to allow him through.

Now, I squealed at this one. Dali Coffee. Dali is the first village the group encounters in IX. Outside of the village is a tower where an old man named Morrid resides. In IX there is a mechanic called a "Collector's Rating" that relies on you finding "collectables" throughout the game. In Morrid's home, there is a model airship that you want for this rating. To obtain it, Morrid asks you to find various coffee beans around the world and bring them back to him!

In Final Fantasy IX, you explore the planet of Gaia. However, there exists a second planet, Terra, that you find is trying to fuse together with Gaia, taking Gaia's souls to feed itself and empower the people of Terra who have died. I don't think this is the plot point of XIV's Calyx, but it's the same concept as "eating" a shard.

Now for the Dungeon!

I am sure most of you know that it is a recreation of Alexandria's castle in IX, but did you know the song? It's called Two Hearts Not Captured. It's actually from the ending of IX... so if you want to see that, it's here. (The video is the entirety of the ending, but I have linked at the timestamp specifically where this song is played.) This made me tear up.

We didn't get Brahne's giant portrait with a cat... thing? We got a curtain on the wall instead. So upset.

I've already talked about the first boss, so let's talk about the second briefly. The design is a mechanized Alexandrian Soldier and was done incredibly well. I was so happy with how they translated it.

Now, something I noticed around the castle... the candles. Sure, Alexandria was using electrope, which is purple, but the candles? They're purple... hmm.

In IX, you are trapped in the main antagonist's palace and you encounter purple glowing lights (they're purple, fight me about it). Turning these off does two things: it gives you an item reward, but also "locks" boss mechanics! It disables the "security" system in the palace from using various attacks. And what is the security system in place?

It's our friend! Valia Pira!

By the way, one of the songs that plays after this is Fleeting Life, but I call it Bobby Corwen's song.

If you're still here, bless you.

Here, Sphere speaks about learning magic with a tutor. In IX, Garnet had a childhood tutor named Doctor Tot (pictured below) and, though born a summoner, is mainly a White Mage through the game. Sphene wanting to learn healing magic is a neat touch.

She also mentions later that she has a grimoire she can use. I am reaching with this, but there's a hidden boss in IX that can be encountered twice. He's a book. A grimoire. And I just needed that little pinch in there. He's actually really cute.

OKAY LET'S TALK ABOUT the xiv recreation of BEATRIX.

A loyal knight who sought to protect the princess. Now, Beatrix isn't always this figure. In fact, she's an antagonist in the beginning who destroys an entire city and commits war crimes, but a lot of people love her and she's so cool.

Everything to the touches on the sword are done well. Now, Beatrix's theme song is Rose of May, which is why she has rose themes in her attacks, but she also uses actual skills she has in IX when you fight her and the one time you get her as a guest in the party. The theme that plays is perfectly named for a sworn knight, Protecting My Devotion. (In fact, right before we played the patch, I said to @notleriff, "I have two requests, and my first one is they use Protecting My Devotion for the trial. I was so happy.)

Okay, a few reaches I have with what happens and what's said by Sphene in the following quests/story beats.

The fear of death.

Of course, this is a real thing we all deal with, but in IX one of the themes is

The regulators remove the memory of those who died from the wearer. Even Sphene touches on this. There is also the fact that the mist on Gaia is created by a machine called the Iifa Tree to make fiends and cause wars. This feeds souls into the lifestream and they are then directed to Terra. Very similar to how Solution 9 works, yeah? Though, our Iifa Tree doesn't hold a boss that just constantly mustard bombs you when you don't have a cure for it...

Vivi is also all about existentialism. (I mean he's not even a real person...)

The main antagonist of IX struggles with his own immortality, realizing his ambition is meaningless, so he just decides to destroy everything. "If I can't live, no one can." I'm trying to see the comparisons to Kuja in Calyx, but Calyx is more like the Garland of IX, who sees the race of Terrans as superior and is the sole caretaker of their souls. His entire goal is to revive his people and is using the souls of other planets to do so.

I ate good this patch. I am so happy and excited to see more IX stuff. If you made it this far, thank you for wasting your time on my fangirling over silly things.

[old-world-bird]

✨The BIG post✨

About flowers and symbols and details and processes to celebrate a New Year, may it be merciful upon us all. Starring this piece with Strahd, that piece with Strahd, and another piece with Strahd. Can't say I was too productive this year, but when I was - oh boi I tried my best.

We'll go in chronological order. Please don't pay attention to the fact that it's Spring already, I honestly started composing this thing in December.

Also, although all three campaigns are heavily homebrewed and this post is generally spoiler-free, I'll leave the spoiler alert here just in case.

━━━━➳༻❀✿❀༺➳━━━━

THE FAMILY PORTRAIT

The family portrait of Strahd and his daughter from one of Tatyana's reincarnations for @blazingemstone.

First of all,

To my shame, I still have not researched, why some mysterious unidentified vines represent intoxication, while ivy, the vine I've used here, means fidelity (it won't easily let go of something it's attached itself to), eternal life (because the plant is evergreen), and marriage. Anyway, I think it's one hilariously ironic combo of meanings, so I let them co-exist in my head and in this piece.

Love and Bravery

Roses (love) and oak leaves (bravery) make up the combo I use as Zarovich's patented trademark for some years now??? I think??? Pretentious, fancy, symbolic, and neat, looks especially nice near the Zarovich crest. In this particular piece, the roses are yellow because it's the golden embroidery, but gods bless this coincidence: yellow roses symbolize jealousy and decreasing love. Strahd is in a complicated relationship with his daughter, himself, and the world around him, and all these symbols work nicely together here.

Young Anastasia wears roses on her gown to

But rosebuds here are closed. Because, you know, immaturity. The love that has yet to unfold.

Also, hand positions. In this iteration of Barovia, Strahd is deeply possessive and protective of Anastasia because of her resemblance to Tatyana. Anastasia, in turn, interprets this as genuine care for her. She is grateful and also admires him. I tried to reflect that relationship in the way Strahd firmly grasps Anastasia's shoulders while she touches his hand gently in a responsive gesture of soft gratitude.

The portrait of an eternal love

The white lily in Tatyana's hands represents innocence; her face is covered with ivy vines and a blue veil, and we kinda can claim that all this refers to the mists that stole her life, personality, youthful innocence, etc... But actually, honestly, I just wanted this corner to look eery. On the other side, gotta trust own brain when it offers something like this. You never know what deepest meanings one can find in these random ideas later.

Some other details

I went a bit experimental with the fur lineart, using curly lines for Anastassia and pointy lines for Strahd. This was done to emphasize character differences.

Also, the spiderweb texture on Strahd's shirt references another campaign's portrait of him with his daughter. Man, my man is a parent of many children.

━━━━➳༻❀✿❀༺➳━━━━

THE ROYAL ONE

Lady Strahd's fancy royal portrait with the ominous shadow, some flower symbolism, and pretentious candelabra for @flyingkitesatnight

First of all,

I feel obligated to share the knowledge that the sketch where the shadow eats Strahd's head existed at some point.

Mirror strikes again

You might remember the older piece with Strahd and Alek, where there also was the mirror without Strahd's reflection.

This time, to emphasize the inhuman nature of the vampire, we added swirling fog where there is no reflection. You know, it's kinda like the mirror is showing the true nature of a vampire, which is mist, and I probably should stop seeking deep meanings in my own artworks, but it's fun, so maybe next time...

Yay, 🌸flowers🌸

A deep red carnation on the chest translates as "Alas! for my poor heart!" Fun fact: striped carnations represent refusal, and yellow carnations are said to mean disdain. Nothing good about carnations out there.

The commissioner requested something to represent Lady Strahd's softer/feminine side in opposition to the monstrosity and war-forged brutality, so in addition to a softly falling hairstyle, we chose Spanish jasmine (in the hand), which represents sensuality.

The almond tree on the wall tapestry represents hope. It's blooming in the light and is withered where the monstrous shadow is cast.

Other small details

Quite obvious references, but I'll mention them because why not.

Clothes reference the module portrait of Strahd. Almond tree tapestry is inspired by van Gogh's paintings. And yes, there is a War against Azalin book, written by this lady's own hands.

━━━━➳༻❀✿❀༺➳━━━━

AND THE MOVIE POSTER

For @curseofthebloodcountess's and @troubledtimeinravenloft's and their marvelous party. Oh boi, where do I even start here...

Probably with the link to the GM's post, where they dive into the details about who all these fellas are.

And once again, 🌸FLOWERS🌸

Strahd is surrounded by poisonous hemlock ("You'll be my death") and there are weeping willow branches (mourning) behind her, and that perfectly sums up her relationship with the party aka her past, present, and probably the future. Hemlock is also embroidered on her dress.

Theodora, the Morninglord's nun in the upper right corner is not only a suspiciously independent construct of the Abbot's creation but also a reincarnation of Strahd's dear friend from the times everyone was alive. Spiked Speedwell is there as a symbol of semblance, and zinnia represents thoughts of absent friends.

Alistor, the knight of Argynvostholt, bearing dragons and scales on his armor, is actually Strahd's long-lost son. Cinquefoil flowers represent maternal affection, and harebells represent grief.

There is also a frame of bramble, most of which creeps around Kolyana siblings and the last member of party, Tam. But some branches twist with Alistor's frame as well. Bramble represents envy.

Creeping willow all around the bottom corner symbolizes forsaken love. Tam, the ranger, eventually turned out to be a reincarnation of Sergei. He is surrounded by the aforementioned bramble of envy and creeping willow, and we also added a rosebay - danger - because of how paranoid his mere existence makes Strahd. You know, those flashbacks from days long gone.

Fun fact #1 - in Estonian, rosebay is põdrakanep, which literally translates to "elk's hemp". Fun fact #2 - in the early sketches, I suggested adding meadowsweet behind Ismark. It means uselessness, and it is very SAD for meadowsweet because it is pretty and smells heavenly good. Fun fact #3 - pine branches behind Tam are there because he had spent most of his life in Svalich woods, so in this particular case, pine was meant to represent, well, pine. But apparently, book says it also means "pity", and this is another neat coincidence. Does Sergey pity Strahd? Who knows. Does Tam pity himself because he is tired and simply wants everyone to just leave him be? There is such a chance indeed.

Bats, dragons, and other cute animals

The traditional fancy bat-winged candelabra is missing here. That could be a shame, so I decided to add bat wings to the frame twice and all around Strahd's gown, including the necklace. Still not as good as a pretentious candelabra could be, tho....

Then there is a wolf devouring the sun. Twice. The frame around the sun references the teeth pattern.

And then there is a small doggy paw mark on Ismark's leather armor because he is the golden retriever of the party and the best boy of the whole Barovia.

Dragons and scales all on and around Alistor, because Argynvostholt. Also, he's standing in flames not only because he and dragons are hot, but also because this fella seems to be an arsonist. "He burned down the coffin shop, he ran through fire to face Strahd at the festival" (c) their DM.

Also, the embroidery on Theodora's clothes is inspired by traditional angels and her familiar Benedict Algernon Ernest von Birdington the Fifteenth, a perfectly normal Morning Dove.

━━━━➳༻❀✿❀༺➳━━━━

That will be all for this time. Hope you enjoyed reading this ✨

The sourcebooks used are Language of Flowers by Kate Greenaway and Floriography by Jessica Roux.

Commission info

[phanta-soba]

Character / F/o pin tutorial

Someone asked me how I made the pins when I originally posted that I was making pins earlier, so I decided to made an in depth tutorial.

First things first, supplies!

You will need:

Paper (and a printer, unless you want to draw it out yourself)

Scissors

Glue (I use a gluestick because it's what I have on hand, but if you use something like school glue you might have to be careful not to saturate the paper with it)

Pins (the ones in the picture are some I've already painted, which will be explained in the prep step)

Paint (color doesn't actually matter much, but know that theres a chance it will alter the tint of the pins)

Some kind of sealant (I use acrylic sealer because that's what I have on hand, but things like mod podge and clear nail polish work too) bonus points if it's glossy ✨️

Step one: Prep!

Print out/draw the designs you want on the pins. Here, I have my sweet dork of a f/o, Deidara.

This is also the stage where you'll paint your pins, because if they have designs on them already (like mine did) it can show through during the sealant step. That's what happened to me on my first attempt (I ended up having to redo them all, which worked out because now I'm making this tutorial <3) I used black paint, which gave them a darker undertone after spraying the sealer on them.

Step two: Cutting and Gluing!

When cutting, it's a good idea to leave some excess and trim it off later (if the pin is too big for the design, you can fill in the white edges with a local color to bridge the gap)

Now for gluing, slather some glue on the back of the picture and line it up with the pin to the best of your ability.

Now you can trim the edges, but still keep a bit of excess so you can fold it over the edge of the pin. I do this by smoothing outward from the center of the picture, and then around the edge.

Now you're nearly done! Give your character / f/o a smooch for getting this far 😘

Step three: Sealing!

For this final step, you just need to take your sealant and apply it to the top of the pins. You can also use this time to make sure that the extra edge (that was folded down) is glued down securely. I skipped this part because these pins are going into my ita bag, but I recommend you do this if they’re going to be in a less protected spot.

I did not heed the instructions on my sealer and accidentally sprayed way too much at once. My poor boy 😭 (it's not too terrible at least, and should be better when it's dry)

And that's all, folks! Have fun with your new knowledge and stay creative!

Bonus:

My ita bag!!

(the big pins don't even fit lmao)

[blessedgirthma]

Joker Needs To Die

Back again with another DC-centric post! This time we'll be continuing my rambling about the Joker and Batman.

Spoilers are down below for a number of Batman stories, including the first issue of Hush 2.

So, I was reading the first issue of Hush 2 and watched as the Joker was taken by the Silence to Thomas Elliot and tortured.

I am sure this was very cathartic for you Jason Todd and Barbara Gordon fans. Even I have to admit that there's a little bit of sweetness in the Joker getting a little bit of torture for all the stuff he's done. Regardless, Hush ends up torturing him until Batman shows back up and finds him.

So the choice is simple. Whether it'd be Joker or Hush, personally, I'm leaning toward Joker since he seems to be the one speaking in the recording, but at the end of the day, Batman is given the chance to let his nemesis die. He doesn't have to bloody his hands; Hush has already done all the dirty work, and now all he has to do is let the Joker die.

Some believe that the Joker is already dead here, but given the cover of the next issue,

And the synopsis: "H2SH WITH JEPH LOEB AND JIM LEE CONTINUES! After the shocking events of the last issue, Batman must make the hardest decision of his life! Guest-starring Nightwing, Batgirl, and Red Hood!"

I think the Joker is definitely still alive here.

For me, I have the theory that both Joker and Hush orchestrated all of this, with Hush using the Silence to incapacitate the Joker so he doesn't pull any wild card moves, all for this little test to push Batman since we all know he's going to save the Joker. But given the cover of the next issue, I also believe that Jason will show up and he and Batman will have a conflict where the ex-Robin will try to stop his old mentor and father figure from saving the clown prince of crime since by all means, this seems to be as good a chance as any to finally finish things.

They can finally wash their hands of the freak. They don't even have to do anything, and the Joker will die all on his own. But with Batman being Batman, he still tries to save the clown since even though the Caped Crusader probably hates the clown prince of crime more than anyone else, to him, leaving Joker to die is still murder. They'll probably fight, with Batman agonizing over the chance to finally let Joker die, which is one of the reasons why I believe the Joker himself is a part of this whole plan. But eventually, the time will come where we'll be able to finally see if the clown bites it.

Now, let's get to the point of this post, where I believe that,

THE JOKER SHOULD DIE!!!!

Over the past few decades, I feel like we've been going nowhere with the relationship between Batman and the Joker. Heck, I even made a separate post about it. But to go into further detail, I want to ask the question of what was the most significant thing Joker has done in the past 20 or so years of comic history.

In 1988, we got the Killing Joke, where the Joker was at his absolute worst. Paralyzing Barbara and traumatizing Jim, he was an utter monster. I do want to make a separate post about the story and how we finally got a glimpse at the man behind the clown makeup and saw an actual calm interaction between him and the Bat.

Funnily enough, 1988 was also the year the Death in the Family story came out with Joker killing Jason. It's probably one of the most important Batman stories to come out, right alongside the Killing Joke. But to ask another question, when's the last time we've gotten a story like that?

Now, I might not be as big of a Joker fan as I think I am because there could be stories like those out there that are just as extreme as those, but from what I've seen, only those two are the real stand-out stories, right alongside Knightfall.

Sure, we've had stories like Death of the Family, where the Joker cuts his face off. But that time around, he more or less targeted the Bat-family rather than Batman directly and instead damages his relationships with the rest of the family. After that, we had Endgame, where both Batman and Joker die in their 'final' battle.

From there, the most notable Joker story after that was Joker War, where he takes all of Batman's money and uses it against him. In the end, this left the Caped Crusader broke and without a lot of his resources. After that, we then have the two Joker comics, which were fun, especially the first, where we see Jim Gordon finally manage to find some peace with his experiences with the Joker.

The second Joker story was also fun, but it was pretty confusing with the whole 2 Joker's angle. But at the end, when the Joker emerges from the water and he's asked which one he is between the two, I love how he simply said that he was the Joker. That it didn't matter who he was, only that he kept the people of Gotham smiling at the end of the day.

Dark Prisons then came and went, and we got a taste of the Joker's first year after falling into the vat of acid. I'm personally conflicted about the story, but I think it was fine, and it was also pretty fun to see the Joker finally come into his own as the clown prince of crime.

Now, here we are, Hush 2 and Joker has to be saved by Batman. Whether or not he does it is still up in the air. But I'm personally leaning toward him surviving. I could be wrong, however.

But throughout all of these stories, prior to Hush 2 and after the Killing Joke and Death in the Family fiasco, what impact has Joker really made in that time?

Sure, he hurt the relationship between Batman and his family and even took all his money. But the thing about comics is that it all has to return to the status quo at the end of the day. Batman reformed his relationships with his family, something he had to do a couple of times, thanks to people like Bane, Thomas Wayne Batman, and Zur-En-Arrh, and now more recently, he's gotten his money back and is back to living in a mansion.

All in all, besides Alfred being gone, which was something that was due to Bane and Thomas Wayne Batman, nothing has changed since the 1980s when Death in the Family and Killing Joke came out. Sure, Jason might be back now, but Under the Red Hood was more or less his story rather than the Joker's.

All of this to say that the Joker hasn't really done anything all that noteworthy in that time besides a few instances where he does some messed up or funny stuff. This leads me to my final point in how the Joker should die for his relationship with Batman to progress.

For those who are in the know about the deeper parts of the relationship between Batman and Joker, you know that the obsession the Joker has with the Caped Crusader goes both ways. There's a cover for Death of the Family that fits this perfectly.

Joker is on Batman's mind as much as Batman is on Joker's. The relationship between the two of them is equal parts hate, love, and obsession.

So, having the Joker kick the bucket is to remove a relationship that has been a part of Batman's life since he first put on the cowl. Some might say he wouldn't care, but with the obsene amount of times he's gone out of his way to save the Joker's life whether it'd be throwing him into the Lazerus pit to bring him back to life, or deciding to help him while he was bleeding out instead of chasing a criminal it's clear that no matter what he might try to believe, Batman cares to an extent for the Joker.

This would then give Batman the chance to feel something different about his role as Gotham's protector. Sure, people like Bane or the Penguin might be bad, but the Joker is supposed to be the worst out of all of them. He has to be the one to push Batman to his absolute limits, whether it'd be copywriting fish or beating one of his sidekicks to death. The Joker's unpredictability is what made him such a fearsome foe for the level-headed and strategic-minded person that Batman is.

This is a relationship that has been 80+ years in the making, and there hasn't been any real change between the two of them beyond the Joker doing something and Batman having to come and stop him. And sure, there's something to that. Having this eternal relationship where it'll continue for more decades to come.

But I think now more than ever we need a flagpole moment, similar to the Killing Joke and Death in the Family. And I think the best we could get is for Joker to finally die and just let Batman and the rest of the DC world sit on that.

Imagine Harley Quinn feeling a mix of relief and sadness. Relief that the Joker was now gone, but still having that part of herself that loves him even after everything he did to her grieve after his death. Or maybe Jason realized that even after the Joker's death, he's still angry and bitter, and that fire inside him isn't something necessarily attached to the Joker, and he has to work through it some other way.

But I think the most important effect would be on Batman himself. He'd have to change a few things about how he went after crime since the worst of the worst in the form of the Joker is finally gone. Of course, he won't stay gone forever.

The Joker is still one of DC's main cash cows, and I feel like they wouldn't want to keep him shelved for too long. But when he does come back, Batman will once again have to change along with the Joker since they've finally seen what happens when he dies and the peace and change that comes from such a thing.

Perhaps Batman will kill the Joker again to keep the peace of mind he once had when he was gone. Or maybe the Joker will be more vicious and violent than ever before since he's gotten a taste for death and is no longer afraid of it, if he ever was. In any case, the Joker dying would undoubtedly shift the dynamic between him and Batman into new directions that could really spark some new life and excitement between the two of them.

That's why I'm excited to see this new Joker in the Absolute universe and watch how their relationship grows just as close as it is in the main DC universe. But for what we're getting now in the main continuity, it's always just been the same stuff. I think the Joker himself put it best when he said in the Batman Arkham Knight DLC A Matter of Family when he's getting ready to fire a rocket at Batgirl and Robin,

"Oh, see. It used to be simple. I blow things up. He shows up. Start all over again."

But for the relationship between Batman and Joker to continue surviving for as long as it has and stand the test of time, there needs to be a change to that dynamic. We've had the age of Batman stopping the Joker; now, we need something new.

[zombeebunnie]

Trembling Essence Devlog 4:💙 Poll results + Analyzing the script💙

Helloooo and welcome new followers, here's how the progress of the game is going! :]

There will be spoilers if you haven't played through the [Extended Demo], specifically the MORNING route. Click here if you would like to play! :]

**A big thank you to the recent influx of interest towards Noah and the game itself! I have to catch up with a lot I missed but I am very grateful! :D

Onto the poll results!:

Thank you to everyone that played the [Extended Demo] and recently participated in some of the recent polls I've created! It's still optional but I would really appreciate any feedback on why you picked your decision to this one if you still would like to! This really helps me out moving forward with my game developing process! :,]

I'm going to dive a little bit deeper into to this: The results left me very surprised especially towards "Talk to Noah" and "Look around" being picked the most out of everything else and the "Go outside" having the lowest, which explains a few concerns I had behind the scenes given this one has the Morning route attached to it. With this information, I'll take all of it into consideration while I continue working on things behind the scenes! :D I talked about this a few months ago but the "Talk to Noah" and "Look around" choice are being revamped and updated. There's some old game development posts that showed some of the old CG's and dialog with it but extends from very old code which had major spoilers in the script before I got better at pacing the story and realizing that I was missing the other half of Day 3 during that time. :S In good news around this time I managed to have a conversation with my play tester about everything and we had a very good talk about where to go from this. I expressed a couple of ideas on how to move forward with the choices and they gave back a good amount of feedback I needed when I was struggling with writers block. :,D

Onto the game development!:

Here is a small recap:

Midway through December up until the start of March, I went through the afternoon route and made adjustments to the choices, story-building, and overall pacing of the route to make the closeness build-up feel more rewarding given that I'm aiming for more of a slow-burn. Outside of more testing and grammar checks, CG's, etc, everything is about 95% done!

Morning route progress:

Since this is still just the second half of Day 3, I'm still trying to be extra careful with balancing a meaningful slow-burn and not over-doing it. :,]

The last time I played through the Morning route was around the start of spring(?) back in 2024 before I went and fixed up the beginning of the game leading up to the cabin.

With a new and fresh perspective of what needs to be done, I went back to the script and went over how I want certain parts of the game to happen. I noticed several inconsistencies that really needed fixing which is largely due to pacing/spoilers happening way too early for my liking. :,]

When choosing the 'Go outside' and the choices after it, I updated it with better dialog between the player(Y/N) and Noah.

It's nothing too extreme but just a nice quality of life to get a better understanding how Noah responds to this. I also fixed how much HP you lose along with editing the additional visual effects that happen here. It was originally split into 2 HP loss situations but now it's only one.

I won't say which scene but there was one part of this route I was going to ultimately cut but I've spent a lot of time brainstorming and came up with an idea on how I want it to go moving forward which might include a new CG and choices being made to give it more meaning. This is all still up in the air and I want to have my play testers check everything out first before I continue with it just in case I end up over-doing it again. :,,,]

Weird bug found?:

I also found a couple of mismatched sprites and a weird bug where a CG of Noah pops up towards the end of the Morning route, I have no idea how it happened or if this can occur in the [Extended Demo]. I can only hope it's not though. :,]

CG clean up:

Around the time I had announced the [Extended Demo] back in early 2024 there were parts of the Morning route that was actually suppose to have CG's but since I was still developing my art style I couldn't do much perspective art like I wanted to.

**As far as CG clean up goes, I do have plans to update some of these in both routes but for now I will keep them as placeholders until I get just a bit more practicing in. There's also 1 or 2+(?) new ones I have planned for this but I'm not ready to share them yet. :D

I think that's about as far as I've gotten up until I couldn't work on the game for about a week and a half so I'll stop here. :[]

If you like what I create, please consider supporting what I do on kofi [Here]! All donations and tips help tremendously while I continue to work on the game. Thank you to those that optionally bought the [Extended Demo] on itch.io. :,]

Q&A / Ask box is open:

To know and understand Noah through Asks and random posts about lore, they'll be under #Get to know: Noah ! :]

**Some asks won't be answered if it contains spoilers but I do appreciate what I receive. I will most likely spend this time going through and catching up on everything I missed. :]

If you have any questions about Trembling Essence/Noah feel free to ask [here] or on itch.io please. This makes it easier for me to see and answer accordingly! I enjoy hearing from you guys!

Thank you everyone for the continued support! :,]

[catiuapavel]

surprise self-rec time! pick 3 of your favorite things you’ve written/drawn and share them here, then put this in the inbox (anonymously or not) of your fellow creators to spread the positivity and help celebrate already posted works 💞

Thank you!! I love this ask, I'll make sure to pass it along 💞

Look my Tactics Ogre Tarot project is probably my favourite work I've done. First because of the subject, the decision not to repeat characters and the ideas behind each choices (a lot of thoughts went into it actually). Second because I worked with a consistent colour palette through the entire set. Everytime I introduced a new colour, I had to consider carefully if I really needed it, so tones keep repeating through the cards but the different associations still make each of them feel unique. Colours matter a great deal to me and I feel this truly reflects it. And finally because I built this series around the idea of negative and positive space and played around with margins and how they interact with the illustration. The role of blank space in these cards and how it interacts with the shapes of the illustrations just work really well. The only problem is I keep thinking "How am I ever supposed to do anything better than this now"

It's one work but also 22 single illustrations - but if I had to choose one as my favourite, it might just be this one:

2) Oh damn how am I supposed to do any better now...

When I painted this one digitally I used a 3-colours palette (well initially it was really 3 layers of grey since I knew from the start I wanted to risoprint it). I was really satisfied with the mood and composition, as well as the colours. But then I got it riso printed, and the printing process altered the overall feeling of the colours, their values, and added a texture to them that actually made me fall in love with it all over again.

3) Do you ever make something and you just don't feel it at all but then you give it a bit of time and you realize you actually do really like it? Somehow while painting this and even after I kept thinking it just wasn't right and then I kept coming back to it thinking "I'm a fool. This is good actually"

[imsofuckinggayomfg]

HELLO LOVES!! i finally have something to talk about hehehe.

and i'm dying y'all, he's so adorable ✋😭

at first i only shortly saw him today where we quickly said hi (remember how i always wave at ppl? well, he's obviously no exception) and i waved at him like always, not expecting a wave back, BUT FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER HE WAVED BACK. THAT WAS LITERALLY THE CUTEST THING EVER??? HE LOOKED SO ADORABLE AND LOWKEY AWKWARD OMFG (he somehow manages to look awkward 90% of the time, which, real love, real-)

i also later went to his office to yap his ear off since i haven't had a real conversation with him in three fucking weeks (which bothered me A LOT to say the least)(i'll explain in another post). i walked into the secretaries office and asked if they knew if he had time and in that moment he was abt to close his door and greeted me (he didn't hear me ask about him) but the secretary stopped him and went like "sir- do you have a second? this student would like to talk to you real quick" ("real quick" i went on to literally yap his ear off for the next 20 minutes 🌚).

he instantly COMPLETELY lit up (bless his heart, i literally love him sm) and was like "yeah totally!!". y'all have NO idea how happy that made me; especially since he was acting kind of off these last two weeks. i also noticed that he was at the very least as glad as i to finally have me bother him again. he literally seemed to nearly explode of joy.

i haven't been to his office in nearly three weeks (i normally yap his ear off at LEAST once a week) and he literally seemed soooo happy that i was back to yapping his ear off. the amount of joy on this man's face was super adorable and incredible to see- i could/can just tell that he was missing our conversations a lot (and same omfg i was DYING without them 😭)

also, side note of something i noticed. every single time i come to bother him in his office, since the very first time i've done that, he INSTANTLY offers me a seat, no matter what i wanna talk abt/ask. he also ALWAYS continues our conversation or starts a new topic just to keep the conversation going. like, an example.

i once came in to just quickly ask him one thing, i even told him "i just need a second of your time, it's just a quick question" and he still offered me a seat and then went on to start a conversation about a different topic by himself after answering my question.

no one, literally NO ONE, can tell me that he doesn't love our conversations (or maybe it's my company, or both 👀) at least as much as i do 🫠

[the---hermit]

26|03|2025

Once again doing a cumulative post for the past few days of studying. I have been so taken by reviewing for my exam I've barely had enough mental energies to look at my phone, or to keep posting daily journal entries. Since my last one, I have finished my second review of exam materials and started the third and final one. I have also managed to spend quality time with my family, including my brother and his partner, which makes me very happy. Ever since he moved out I have really missed spending time with him, and since lately I have not been in the best place mentally this has done me good. Plus I will also be spending time with them this week, which I am looking forward to. As I have also mentioned in other posts lately, my mental energies have been quite low, so I have been getting most of my daily reading done with audiobooks and graphic novels. I have decided to reread the Deadendia graphic novels for the trans rights readathon, since I decided to momentarily pause my reading of Compound Fracture. I realized it is going to be very very hard emotionally and I am aware right now I'd probably not handle it very well. My Deadendia reread has been so good tho, I have been wanting to reread these for a while and I am having a great time. I also finished the first Emily Wilde audiobook, and ended up getting the whole series because I loved it, and it is the perfect lighthearted fantasy for the mental place I am in right now. I don't need to focus too hard, it's fun and distracting and I am so looking forward to continuing the series.

35-38/50 days of productivity:

Read in the morning when I have enough energies to do so

Finished my second review of materials for my exam

Went to the last in person lecture of the first half of the semester

Started my third review of materials

Irish on duolingo

[aj-jesterdude]

deltritus worldbuilding theorypost...^2!!!

so!! homestuck beyond canon has ended it's first act and according to the reddit q&a that happened right after, it seems Act 2 will finally, *finally* show us those beautiful beautiful deltritans. i made a post a while back attempting to theorize about what the worldbuilding of Deltritus could look like. but after some recent conversations i have realized i could've gone much more in depth...tackled not just the societal implications but also the biology...so...ahaha...here we go

So let's start off with the species. We know that Dirk has created the Satyrs. Satyrs are, according to Greek myth, essentially horse/goat/human hybrids of sorts. And this makes sense for Dirk, he's a horse fan. I theorize that the Satyrs will be only slightly horse-like. Maybe horse legs, but still bipedal...horse tails, ears. I've heard various suggestions of them having puppet-like features but that is...while not impossible, I think it would complicate them significantly. How does death work for them if they are puppets? How does that interact with SBURB's systems? It's a little too messy for my liking, though odds are there is some other complication to them as if they're just half-horse-half-man, that is just a little too simple. I do suspect that they're going to be male-exclusive, and Rose's species will be similarly female-exclusive. For one, Satyrs in Greek myth *were* entirely male, and secondly, Ult!Dirk's whole...masculinity thing he's got going on. This does raise the question of reproduction, and I would humbly suggest mpreg, but if they were puppet-y I could see them just quite literally making new ones. What I do stand by though is that puppets are at least a huge part of their culture. Let's entertain that within the Satyr lands there's a giant golden Lil' Cal statue, yes? I also presume that, like Dirk, they will be makers of machines and whatnot. Creative types. But something I realized I failed to explore with my last theorypost was the influence of two other forces on the Satyrs: Terezi...and *Jake*. Terezi's running the command terminal to shape the societies, and has automated it much to Dirk's displeasure. And what's more, she's been fiddling with it even though she claimed to be done with it. Obviously she is trying to meddle with the deltritans to do something to sabatoge this new session...but what? This I am still unsure about. Perhaps she's stripped out any Time or Space aspects, to try and doom the session? Now as for what that means for the societies, odds are Terezi's made them not as hostile to each other as Dirk was hoping for. I believe the original plan was to have both species compete, and one would lose and be barred from playing the game. However, I think Terezi's managed to work it so both species are still thriving to play at the same time. Perhaps that will cause messy friction between the two different species that will hinder the session's progress? And let's tackle that little juicy implication I put back up there a little while ago. I think while yes, a lot of Dirk's personal traits and flaws have sunken into the Satyrs...I think a little bit of Jake probably got into them too. Maybe this enhances the manly machismo angle of it all? Will they enjoy making movies? Will firearms be their weapons of choice? It’s something to think about, at least. Now let’s shut up about Dirk and talk about the far more mysterious half of the deltritan population, Rose’s species. We have no name for them, but in the circles I’m in, we’ve taken to assuming Nymphs. Yet again another Greek mythological creature, Nymphs were taken as nature spirits of sorts. And this is interesting, Satyrs would often try to chase after Nymphs. So that feels about right. But what would they be like? I highly suspect we’ve already…sort of seen a Nymph already. Odds are that gavageCunctation is one of them. You see, they mention having “buccal mass”, which is an aquatic feature…and we know at the very least that Rose’s species is aquatic, that’s why they moved to the cliffside there. And Nymphs could be water-dwelling and based too. Now, if Dirk’s basing his off of his particular animal of choice, the Horse, then surely Rose’s aquatic species must be based around squiddles/horrorterrors.

But looking at GC’s hands in the only panel we have them in right now…they don’t look or feel too horrorterror-y, do they? They’re gray, and seemingly have some sort of talon or claw on their fingers. You see, I suspect that Rose has gone two-fold. Sure, work in some of that eldritch horror aquatic beast stuff, but Rose Lalonde has always been, in my mind first and foremost…a cat person. I think the Nymphs are some sort of aquatic cat-like race. In my speculative design for GC, I assumed we’d have tentacle hair and cat-like mouths, go check the drawing to see me go a little more in depth there since I’m really rambling too much already on this post. But what about the society? Well, last post I speculated they’d be a more magically-inclined race to further match Rose’s interests, and act as a further opposite of Dirk’s more mechanical/tangible Satyrs. 

But once again I have to ask how another person worked their way into their design…and if Dirk’s was Jake…then surely Rose’s must be Kanaya. Are they more into fashion than the Satyrs? Are they more inclined to meddle? Will one of the Nymphs act quite similarly to her? It’s just so interesting to entertain. Now before I let you go, I wanna put out just a few more quick thoughts. I do hope that we’ll see Vriska guide the Omega kids, and Terezi guide the Deltritans, as that would create an interesting parallel to their little game they had between John and Dave, right? And wouldn’t it be similarly interesting if Dirk himself decided to get in touch with one his Satyrs, and end up recreating a dynamic similar to Bro and Dave’s? Augh. Anyways.

Thank you so much for reading all of this insane rambling. If you have any thoughts or opinions on this as well, please comment them!!! I wanna talk about this so much more!!! See what other people think. Anyways um. idk how to end this so go read homestuck beyond canon if you haven’t yet okay? <3

[umblrspectrum]

updated some ref sheets and also actually made jcj one

[lunadetta]

hey so i like shadamy (and amy rose) a very normal amount so here i am back from the artistic dead ❤️

maybe i'll do shadamy week stuff idk

[every-sanji]